Dana is a 13-year-old girl who lives in Buffalo, New York. She is a happy girl and loves her life. She has two parents and 3 cats. 

    Dana was a cheerleader, a high honor student, and a social girl. She loved to dress up and feel pretty. She loved everything about her life and the people in it. 

    Dana had lots of friends. But she had one best friend that she loved very much. Her name was Kara. Kara and she had been friends since the first grade and she never wanted that to end. 

    Kara and Dana hung out every single day. They had also done cheer together since they were little. Dana and Kara were the best of friends. 

You should come over today, Dana!

    But even though she was a very outgoing girl, Dana struggled with her happiness. Dana didn't feel like a happy girl on the inside. She was able to mask it very well. 

    One day, Dana's depression got really bad. Dana asked Kara to come over in order to make herself feel better and to maybe explain to Kara her mental illness. 

Kara, can you come over, please?

    Kara had arrived at Dana's house and was excited to hang out. 

    When she noticed that Dana was sad she asked her, "What's wrong, Dana?" 

    Dana then told Kara, "Kara I have a mental illness called depression. I have a hard time maintaining happiness and I am often sad."

        Kara was super confused and didn't know what depression was like. She got angry. She thought that Dana was making something up because she didn't want to hang out with Kara anymore. 

    Kara stormed out of Dana's house, leaving Dana upset and crying. Dana was so confused about what she had done to upset Kara. 

You are ridiculous Dana! 

    The next day, Dana tried to find Kara in the hallways at school, in hopes to try and explain and apologize for angering Kara. 

    She walked past the girl's bathroom and overheard Kara talking about Dana in the stalls. 

    "Danas is such a freak, she told me she had depression yesterday. Isn't that so weird?" said Kara. 

What a weirdo!

    Dana was so shocked that her best friend would talk about her this way. She ran into the other bathroom and called her mom to pick her up. 

    Dana's mom picked her up and she went home. When Dana got home, she crawled into bed and began sobbing. "What's wrong, Dana?" her mother asked. 

"Nothing Mom, don't worry about it" replied Dana. 

*sobs*

    Dana had laid in bed for days, refusing to go to school or take care of herself. Dana became someone she wasn't. She didn't go to any cheer practices, she stopped doing her homework, and she stopped dressing pretty. 

When Dana finally returned to school after a week of not going, her classmates bugged her with the question,  "What's wrong Dana?" 

"Nothing leave me alone" replied Dana.

What's wrong?

      Kara saw Dana and began to get worried about her, Dana was avoiding her and she hadn't been to school in days. Kara went up to Dana and tried to speak to her. 

    "Dana, what's wrong?" asked Kara. 

    "Kara, leave me alone! I don't want to talk to you right now" replied Dana angrily.